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Inside China Tech: ByteDance, Baidu plot next moves as Ehang encounters turbulence
- ByteDance plans New York listing of short video app Douyin, as Baidu doubles down on smart car initiative
- Ehang denies fraud allegations levelled against it by activist short seller Wolfpack Research
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ByteDance gets busy on IPO, search
For a long time, China’s internet sector has been dominated by the triumvirate known as BAT – referring to online search kingpin Baidu, e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding, and video games and social media giant Tencent Holdings.
In the past few years, however, another company has emerged in a position to take over the spot held by Baidu in that elite group, tech unicorn ByteDance. The Beijing-based start-up has rapidly grown on the back of its three most popular products – news aggregator Toutiao, Chinese short video-sharing app Douyin and sister platform TikTok, which has become a worldwide hit.
ByteDance may be moving closer to a BAT peerage through its latest initiative. The company plans to raise capital in the US through an initial public offering of Douyin in New York, according to an exclusive South China Morning Post report that cited a source familiar with the plan.
While the proposed IPO remains in preliminary discussion, it has gained traction with ByteDance’s investors because of the new administration in Washington, led by US President Joe Biden, the source said. The company, founded in 2012, counts some of the world’s biggest venture capital funds as investors, including Tiger Global Management, KKR & Co, SoftBank Vision Fund, General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital China and Yunfeng Fund.
Bien has worked at the Post since 2000. He has served as Post Magazine's technology editor and Technology Post's deputy editor. He was a guest host on Tech Specs in TVB’s Money Magazine show. He won runner-up, Best News Writing, at the 2008 Hong Kong News Awards.
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